Assessing the Penn State offense, and big days for Kaytron Allen and Brenton Strange, in Lions' latest win

STATE COLLEGE — Penn State had 403 total yards of offense, scored six touchdowns, and had a 100-yard rusher on Saturday as it beat Central Michigan 33-14. Yet, those within the Lions program and others watching either at Beaver Stadium or from afar probably feel worse about the performance than the numbers suggest.

There is a good reason for that. Coordinator Mike Yurcich’s attack was plagued by stretches of inconsistency, protection issues, and drops throughout the non-conference contest. Quarterback Sean Clifford threw three touchdowns and tossed no interceptions. Usually, that’s a very good day at the office for the senior. But, his performance will largely be remembered by the receivers he missed — and the passes they sometimes dropped — and also the number of times he was hurried in the pocket.

Lions coach James Franklin was most disappointed following the game by his team’s inability to take advantage of the Chippewas’ aggressive cover-zero scheme.

“We got to be able to hurt people when they line up in that defense,” Franklin said. “Although we were effective, we didn’t hurt people. When people play coverage zero, you should be excited on offense. You should create huge, explosive plays because if you break one tap or make one guy miss, there’s one left. We didn’t do that today. And, that made it harder in the run game and in the pass.”

Clifford sums up latest Penn State performance

Clifford finished the day 22 of 34 for 217 yards and the aforementioned three scoring strikes. He was terrific early but often struggled through the middle portion of the game. One of his biggest areas for improvement at Penn State has always been in the consistency department. On this day, he missed far too many open receivers, and many of the incompletions weren’t particularly close.

“I thought it was inconsistent, starting with myself,” Clifford said. “I thought that obviously when you start the game with two touchdowns, you’re doing pretty well. And then, it was kind of a little rocky after that. Now, kudos to Central Michigan. They really did come out with a great game plan. They mixed it up throughout the whole game. They made adjustments after those first two touchdowns to really bring some different looks. So, kudos to them.

“I thought that they did a really good job. But, it’s our standard, and we didn’t live up to it the whole time. I thought we still made plays. I thought we still played you know, not terrible. It wasn’t bad. We won the game by a decent amount. But at the same time, it’s our standard. I thought that we didn’t meet it today.”

Clifford went on to say that he believes Penn State will improve from this outing. It better, as the competition will only get tougher from here.

Spotlighting two Lions on offense

Two Penn State players had extremely impressive afternoons. We’ll start in the backfield. Freshman Kaytron Allen stole the show on this day. He is faster than he is given credit for and has tremendous vision and poise. On 13 carries, he netted 111 yards (which equals out to 8.5 per attempt) and scored after a beautiful cut allowed him to race untouched into the end zone from 14 yards out.

“I don’t think there’s anybody in that locker room that’s surprised with Kaytron’s success,” Franklin said. “He’s got really good vision. He’s got really good contact balance, and he’s got a really good understanding of how to set blocks up. When you’re able to do that, and you got to toughness that he has as well, then he can consistently get eight to 12 yards, which obviously is what we need.”

Tight end Brenton Strange had another very strong performance, as well. He caught all five targets for 42 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

“I’m just happy to do my role,” Strange said. “I’m happy to play my role. Whenever my number’s called, whatever they ask me to do, I’m happy to do. Tight ends are unique because they get to do everything: Run block, pass block and catch the ball. I’m just happy to do my role and whenever my number’s called, I hope to execute.”

So far this season, he has done exactly that.